More Than 35,000 US Properties Foreclosed In March: Report

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The number of properties foreclosed in March as well as the first quarter of this year registered an increase amid elevated interest rates, according to real estate data company ATTOM.

“There were a total of 35,890 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in March 2025,” the company said in an April 11 statement. “That figure was up 11 percent from February 2025 and up 9 percent from March 2024.”

This continues the month-over-month rising trend seen in February and January. For the first quarter of 2025, there were a total of 93,953 filings, up 11 percent from the fourth quarter of 2024.

“Following three consecutive quarters of decline, foreclosure activity ticked up in the first quarter of 2025,” ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said, adding that there was “notable growth” in both foreclosure starts and completions.

“While levels remain below historical averages, the quarterly growth suggests that some homeowners may be starting to feel the pressure of ongoing economic challenges. However, strong home equity positions in many markets continue to help buffer against a more significant spike in distress.”

The rise in foreclosure filings for the first quarter came as mortgage rates continued to remain elevated, putting pressure on homeowners.

The rate on a 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage has remained above 6.5 percent for every single week in the first quarter.

High mortgage rates can raise monthly payments for certain homeowners, like those who have taken loans at variable rates. This could squeeze them financially, potentially pushing some into foreclosures.

Among the 225 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000 people, Columbia, South Carolina, saw the highest foreclosure rate in the first quarter.

This was followed by Lakeland, Florida; Bakersfield, California; Riverside, California, and Chico, California, rounding up the top five.

Some rate relief for homeowners may be coming.

“We think mortgage rates will move even lower within the next quarter and ultimately close the year at approximately 6.3 percent,” said Mark Palim, chief economist at Fannie Mae.

Foreclosure Policies

Trump administration agencies have taken several actions regarding property foreclosures.

Some lawmakers have criticized, while others welcomed, reports of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) planning to end the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program, which assists veterans facing foreclosure on their properties.

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) criticized the decision in an April 4 statement.

“President Trump has chosen to put the 15,000 veterans using the VASP program at financial risk and end a program that could help nearly 80,000 veterans who are in danger of foreclosure,” he said. “Veterans and their families rely on the VASP program to avoid housing insecurity and homelessness.”

Converely, House Committee on Veterans Affairs Chairman Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) and Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Chairman Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) backed the Veterans Affairs department’s move to phase out the VASP initiative in an April 3 statement.

They said the program was created for political purposes by the prior Biden administration to undercut the VA Home Loan program.

“Since 1943, the VA home loan program has helped millions of veterans, and their families, own a home. The Biden-Harris administration wrongfully jeopardized the future of this benefit by allowing billions of dollars to be used towards bailouts for lenders by creating the VASP program,” the lawmakers said in a statement.

“We—along with many of our colleagues—had serious concerns about the impact VASP would have on not only the future of VA’s home loan program, but the mortgage lending business as a whole. Today, the Trump administration rightfully put an end to VA’s VASP program.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced this past week that it was extending foreclosure relief to more than a million borrowers of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans recovering from the impacts of Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

The hurricanes affected parts of Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.

The moratorium prohibits mortgage services from starting or completing foreclosure actions on FHA-insured single-family forward or Home Equity Conversion mortgages in presidentially-declared major disaster areas (PDMDAs) resulting from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

This 90-day moratorium will remain in effect until July 10 and is the second extension of the moratorium. The first moratorium expired on April 11. FHA insures more than a million single-family mortgages in the Milton and Helene PDMDAs.